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No need for me to re-debate or rewrite what I spent a book working through. But, suffice it to say:
I spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the passage you quote. Which is, btw, an account by Tokimune, not Sokaku. And nowhere whatsoever have I ever written that anyone could have questioned Sokichi's courage or valour, least of all Sokaku. I don't remember whose bought my book - and thus, I do not know if you have. but suffice it to say that I spent considerable time proposing a possible reason why a) I believe that Sokichi was the direct teacher of Sokaku in aiki b) why Sokaku didn't say so.

Just a couple of tangent thoughts and questions. We can see from a few sources that Takeda told his students not to teach "aiki" to just anyone. Aside from the nature of aiki being THE secret, could this also have come as a "teaching" from Sokichi? Something that Sokichi "instilled" in his unruly son, just like other lessons? A lot of times, the simple answer is the best one. Aiki being THE secret to his skill is pretty much enough of an answer on why Sokaku stated not to teach it to everyone, but then again, things with Sokaku weren't exactly simple.

I guess if we look at "aiki" as being the skills that Sokichi taught Sokaku, then having Sokichi instill in Sokaku the need to keep them secret and such would seem apt. However, if Sokichi just taught Sokaku a ... rudimentary base, for lack of a better term, and Sokaku being a genius took that and transformed it into something a good bit better, then that changes things. Put simply, was Sokichi as talented in aiki as Sokaku? Or did Sokaku take what he'd learned and used his innate talent to make it into the aiki we know now?

When people later asked Sokaku where he learned this fabulous, martially awesome stuff (called aiki), do you think Sokaku could have picked someone else to attribute it to? Someone like Saigo, who any person with a grain of research would find out the obvious truth that it couldn't have been him (Saigo). If Sokaku had resentments from his father's treatment of him, it would be one way of getting back at his father.

Among the centers of instruction frequented by the buke were… (Ed. note several schools in various regions) …

A scholar, Koike Kenji, has described the history, organization, and training program of one of these centers, the Nisshinkan in Wakamatsu, which was primarily concerned with the literary and physical education of the provincial lords, higher retainers, and leading administrators of the ancient Aizu clan. The training of high-ranking children of this clan began systematically and officially when they were eight or nine years old. Before that, as was customary, these children had already been prepared through preliminary indoctrination in martial etiquette, and at the age of five, boys had already received their first samurai costumes and swords (which they would never again be without.)

Under the strict surveillance of these teachers the children memorized the literary texts of instruction…

At fifteen they approached the Chinese Classics …

Allowances were made for less talented students, who were given more time and extra care in order to help them catch up with the others. Failure, of course, meant utter disgrace, because it often entailed (in characteristically Japanese fashion) the demotion of the entire family to a lower rank in the military hierarchy, due to the son's ability to follow in his father's footsteps.

(As the samurai system slowly crumbled under the weight of the western onslaught of new ideas, one can see from the last line, as Ellis has pointed out, a father's discipline (and perhaps crossing the line) to his son could be severe due to the ramifications.)

Of course, the main stay was military instruction (ranging from kyujutsu, kenjutsu, jujutsu, hojutsu, chikujojutsu, bajutsu and suiei (swimming). In addition, much like West Point and Annapolis, there seems to be rounding out the student with Calligraphy, etiquette, music, medicine, and astronomy. Optional material included Tea ceremony, poetry, etc.

The Nisshinkan school was founded by Genko Tanaka in 1803. He served the fifth, sixth and seventh generations of Aizu clan daimyos as their chief retainer.

During his lifetime he introduced wide scale political changes to the clan. His personal motto was "The Aizu clan's prosperity depends on educating its people." So he started the Nisshinkan school on the west side of Tsurugajo Castle. It was a school set up to educate the boys of the samurai rank retainers from the age of 10.
The boys studied confucianism, mathematics, astronomy, and medical science using Japanese sources and information gathered from the Dutch.

They also had to train in the martial arts, archery, spear-throwing, shooting, horse-riding and swimming. The school had its own swimming pool and observatory and it is said to have been in the top 3 out of 300 such clan schools in Japan at that time.

The Nisshinkan was burnt down during the Boshin Civil War but it is still possible to see parts of the stone observatory wall.

The plan in S of S (pg 107) shows, besides a printing house, Halls (of course they would have records, books, mokuroku, makimono, densho, etc. -- kind of like a library) for Ceremony, Records of the Clan, National Shinto, Chinese Literature, and Military Science.

It has been suggested to me that perhaps the scrolls would have been taken from the Nisshinkan ‘Hall of Military Science', perhaps not even related to Aiki (or were, the trouble with history).

Regarding the ‘Yamato-ryu', one can find this ‘precursor name' on page 232 of Aikido, Tradition and the Competitive Edge by Fumiaki Shishida and Tetsuro Nariyama , 2001. It seems the famous Kotaro Yoshida recommended the name change to ‘Daito' as the characters were no longer pronounced that way.

This last section is also based on the Daitokan newsletters predominately (some of which I do not have or have translations) The various names such as ‘Daido', ‘kogusoku', ‘Oshikiuchi' and ‘Daito ryu' are bandied about, this being discussed more thoroughly in both your works and Ellis' book.

Besides the history of the Takeda clan and battlefield strategy work ‘Koyo Gunkan', I have also run across a ‘Takeda ryu' document (very old) regarding battlefield emplacements and such. A quick translation led to a rather unique ‘calibration' technique for trenches and such -- quite amusing once shown.

I am attempting in April to ‘acquire' material that would lead to a more definitive name of an in-house martial art for the Takeda / Aizu clan. As Ellis has said, they documented everything. The only trouble is 1) finding it and 2) translating it. I think it would be easier to just take repeated uke for a high flying Ganseki otoshi or even the dreaded Yama arashi.

I know the passage. In fact, I printed all the installments in AJ and then sought out some of the Japanese originals, as preparation for TIE 17. I think the only way to throw any more light on Sokatsu's education is to search through Aizu records. Since Sokichi taught Sokaku, his second son, it would seem highly reasonable that he followed Tokugawa tradition and taught his oldest son, too, and probably with greater care, because he was the oldest. In addition, there is an issue of whether Sokatsu was high enough in rank to be eligible for attending the Nishinkan, even though Bange was a long way away.

PAG

Quote:

Ellis Amdur wrote:

Peter - further meetings with his father is a very important question, of which I've no answer. And Sokichi died in, I believe in 1904. Those last years are very intriguing.
Here's the best info I've read in English regarding Sokaku's early behavior, his training directly from his father, etc. The article notes Sokichi's education, older brother Sokatsu's martial abilities (where did HE get them), and the repeated social distress that Sokaku "caused" his father.

One passage is particularly worth quoting and one sentence there is highlighted:

One issue for me is what sources Kenji Koike or Shishida & Nariyama actually used (I assume that Westbrook & Ratti used Koike's German article in Monumenta Nipponica). IU have seen the plan on p. 107, but there is a much better one, with smaller maps of each section, and a large pull-out drawing, in the book that Ellis cites in Chapter Two of HIPS. The translation given of the title is A Study of Education in the Aizu Domain, but the actual title is 会津藩教育考. It was published by Tokyo University in a series on Japanese history and there are two other volumes in the series relating to the Aizu domain.

All the information about Kurokochi Dengoro Kanenori can be found therein, along with detailed descriptions of what was taught, when, and by whom. I would assume that Shishida also used this is one of his sources.

I am much intrigued by the Peter Goldsbury's writings (FASCINATED and devouring each one -- more! more!) and Ellis Amdur's books and comments (whom I love disagreeing with but he writes so damn well).

One of the things I mention when discussing history is those in the past were 1) just like us, loving, laughing, crying and living and 2) were radically different in belief systems and how and why they did things. Not wrong always (sometimes), just different.

Goldsbury makes much of the difference of the Japanese mindset and Amdur much of how they had the same foibles and faults as today. I tend to listen, trying to determine what is right, what is wrong, what was lie and what may be a truth.

Scott Harrington

co-author of "Aiki Toolbox: Exploring the Magic of Aikido"

Mr Harrington,

Many thanks for your comments. My review essay of Ellis Amdur's book is really a 'one-off' undertaking, but there are so many themes in HIPS that are germane to my 'Transmission, Inheritance, Emulation' columns I am writing, that it seemed better to include them as columns than to write a separate series.

When I came to Japan, I had few expectations, probably owing to the sound advice I received from one of my aikido teachers ('Do not go to Japan solely with the aim of practicing aikido: if you do, you will be sorely disappointed,') and as a result have indeed suffered few disappointments. Living in one of Japan's more unusual cities (unusual, because the city considers itself both unique and average at the same time) has given me an opportunity to study Japanese culture and also how the Japanese themselves view Japanese culture (the two are not the same). In addition, teaching in one of Japan's more enlightened national universities has allowed me to function as much part of a large Japanese organizational culture as a foreigner is likely to be allowed to do so. Both of these aspects are very relevant to aikido, at least as it is conceived and practiced in Japan.

An interesting issue here is the difference between biography and 'straight' history. In HIPS Ellis does both and neither at the same time. For example, his descriptions of Sokaku's mental state, as a result of alleged tortures suffered at the hands of his father, would form part of a very good psychological biography, rather like Romulus Hillsborough's semi-fictional biography of Sakamoto Ryoma. But I doubt whether it would be acceptable as ‘strict' history without much more detailed evidence.

Like HIPS, the columns I am writing are highly revisionist. If you immerse aikido in its wider Japanese cultural settings, it becomes much less 'spiritua'l in the western sense this term has acquired and much more mundane and this-worldly.

Onisaburo Deguchi was yet another one of a general crop of leaders of new religions, precipitated by the collapse of the cherished Pax Tokugawa and the leap into the political and economic uncertainties of Meiji and Taisho. There was a good reason for Omoto to arise and an equally good reason for it to fall.

Morihei Ueshiba was Deguchi's lieutenant, but he separated from Deguchi to create something else, a Japanese art with a crucial martial component, but one which he himself nevertheless based on the same type of new religious observances ('doctrine' is not really appropriate here) as Deguchi and Goi had offered. The revelations offered by Ellis in Chapter Four, based on his reading of the English translations of Takemusu Aiki, done by Sonoko Tanaka and Stan Pranin, are a confirmation of this. Deguchi was once told that he was a reincarnation of Susa-no-o and this deity was also one of Ueshiba's favourite deities. Deguchi also made use of kotodama-gaku, (the supposedly academic study of word-soul) which was a by-product of the rise of kokugaku (country/nation-study = study of Japan's unique culture, especially in contrast with Chinese accretions). It is clear that Morihei Ueshiba knew about kotodama-gaku, as interpreted by Deguchi, and made great use of it in his own discourses. One reasonable conclusion is that if you do not know about kotodama-gaku, you will never make sense of Morihei Ueshiba's own interpretations of the Kojiki, and this is one of the lasting thoughts I received from the late Arikawa Sadateru Shihan.

Ellis quite reasonably interprets the Kojiki as a semi-historical text, in the same sense that the Iliad is a semi-historical text. Though the writer/compiler records a myth, as ‘Homer' did, he assumes that Izanagi really did throw three peaches at his pursuers, and then had his discussion with his dead wife. There are many manga versions of the Kojiki available for Japanese children. But then on top of this interpretation Ueshiba adds a completely different interpretation, according to which the three peaches were/are actually aikido. How they fulfilled this role is unclear, beyond the general idea that Morihei Ueshiba actually believed that the three peaches prevented Izanagi and Izamani from doing anything other than what they actually did. Takamusu Aiki (the parts that have not been translated into English) is full of kotodama-gaku interpretations of the Kojiki, which Ueshiba made free use of to explain what he thought aiki and aikido really was.

I think there are very good reasons why kotodama-gaku never gained popularity as a discipline in the Meiji period. One is that it had to compete with western science, which had gradually shed its own close associations with religion that it had at the time of Newton and had acquired standards of rigor that were immediately perceivable, if not immediately attainable. The second is that it was tied too closely to a certain paradigm of knowledge, according to which receiving the truth or the secrets of kotodama was eligible only to those who were deemed worthy, or in a position to understand what they were told.

There is also a very good reason why kotodama and kotodama-gaku were dropped like a stone after World War II. It was too closely tied to prewar esoteric Shinto, as manifested in the myth of the kokutai (the mystical body of Japan). So the tatemae of Takemusu Aiki (and also the Aiki Shinzui texts translated by John Stevens, which are very similar) is that, "it is the work most representative of O-Sensei's thinking", as Ellis quotes Kisshomaru Doshu in HIPS. The honne is that it is a period piece: a ‘remembrance of things past' and in no way at all representative of Kisshomaru's thinking.

Does this sense not sum up the essence of the peculiarly Japanese cultural chauvinism -- from at least the Kokugaku forward:

"Uniquely capable of representing all of humanity ..."

It seems from Peter's account of education that an "inverse function" exists to the famous "nail that sticks up -- will be hammered down " metaphor. It seems that the exceptions on the low end of the scale are to be "pulled up" in some similar measure. I must admit one does not get this sense very easily from the outside. But it makes honne/tatemae sense in the context of avoiding any causes of public shame.

So, psychologically speaking (hazarding entry into Ellis's domain), then the assumption of "beating down" that Ellis notes, might also be inverted (from what I have read so far of the TIE and comments it seems Ellis's position can only be an assumption, on the lack of direct evidence) -- a kind of "snatching up" of a child deemed on the low end of expectations.

One might wonder if Sokaku may have been as much a disappointment to his father in that sense -- and his father was engaged in "hauling up" a son deemed weak or failing -- and perhaps Sokaku had overcompensated in awe of his father's disappointment with him. His father was a sumo rikishi, and even today they are much taller than average. Sokaku was a very small man -- 150 cm or 4' 11" -- small even by Japanese standards of his time (late Edo period average height is between 159-160 cm - 5' 2" -5' 3") . The fact that Ellis' chief example of "torture" is the moxibustion episode seems to indicate this was the exact concern on the part of his father -- the traditional remedy was most typically used in cases where physical weakness was deemed a serious problem. It might also explain Sokaku's gravitation toward a more systematic exploitation of aiki.

Eric, I'll be the malaprop and you the maladroit. May your cat above be eaten by a Dogberryism.

On a side note of research, I just discovered that the Aizu clan had a Gatling Gun at their disposal during the Boshin War.

There was a reference in the accounts of 'spiral artillery' which I had taken as rifled guns but it seems cutting edge technology (the Gatling gun, still using paper cartridges during the American Civil War and thus less than effective - though 'Beast' Butler tried) had made it to the shores of Japan.

On a side note of research, I just discovered that the Aizu clan had a Gatling Gun at their disposal during the Boshin War.

There was a reference in the accounts of 'spiral artillery' which I had taken as rifled guns but it seems cutting edge technology (the Gatling gun, still using paper cartridges during the American Civil War and thus less than effective - though 'Beast' Butler tried) had made it to the shores of Japan.

Scott

Gatling guns... Now that would have made a difference in the battle scene and ending of "The Last Samurai," wouldn't it? In the movie, the emperor's imperial forces had the Gatling guns and the samurai had arrows, spears and swords. But it did give Ken Watanabe a fabulously over-the-top death scene.

Gatling guns... Now that would have made a difference in the battle scene and ending of "The Last Samurai," wouldn't it? In the movie, the emperor's imperial forces had the Gatling guns and the samurai had arrows, spears and swords. But it did give Ken Watanabe a fabulously over-the-top death scene.

Saigo (was it "Katsumoto" in the movie?) had run out of ammo (in history).

With the down time of AikiWeb (Jun -- you run a good site!) I had some time to do a little ‘research' regarding several points that pop up regarding Takeda Sokaku's younger days. Nothing direct, but some filler. So….

First off, a quick watch of the 2007 TV drama, "Byakkotai" had some neat scenes. Saigo Tanomo, the supposed teacher of ‘aiki' is shown as a middle aged man (without the scraggly beard) in the role as a high ranking adviser. While the movie's portrayal of Tanomo isn't too flattering (in reality the Aizu clan was effectively bought off by the Emperor to clean up Kyoto), it gives a feel of his character. Caught between a rock and a hard place, and knowing bad will happen.

For those not up on Aizu history, the Byakkotai (White Tiger corps) were comprised of students of the Nishhinkan (Aizu's version of West Point). The young men (really boys) actively fought against the invasion of their region and a small group separated by the chaos of battle from the main body committed suicide (19 died with one surviving the attempt), believing their castle had fallen. Very dramatic, a most honorable deed, this group corresponded very much to the southern cadets from VMI fighting in the American Civil War or the Hitler Youth (with NONE of the bad connotations) such that both the German Nazi's and Mussolini's fascists set up statues in Japan to commemorate their sacrifice.

Another source gave some more background of the times that Takeda Sokaku and his family lived through. "Remembering Aizu, the Testament of Shiba Goro" recounts the life of a small samurai child who had just entered the Nishhinkan but too young to enter the Byakkotai.

Much like Saigo Tanomo, whose family killed themselves, Shiba Goro lost his mother, grandmother and two sisters along with his brother's wife to ritual suicide. Besides this terrible incident, he describes the subjugation of Aizu by the Satsuma (‘potato samurai' -- an insult) and Choshu clans. He states that in a 9 month period involving the Boshin War, 2,610 Aizu men died (not including Samurai women and civilians.)

With the Aizu clan surrendering, the hardships continued with no income, no food, forced relocations, and very little future. Shiba Goro talks of barely surviving, losing his hair from poor nutrition, and even having to consume dog.

This is the atmosphere that Takeda Sokaku would have endured, his father having served in one of the corps made up of Sumo players and hunters. Tough times afterward and the only future were political connections and attempting to get an education (that was Shiba Goro's ticket out, having eventually studied French and other subjects in a military academy, leading to a successful career as an officer). A near illiterate Sokaku did not seem to be a promising help to the family.

One reason Takeda Sokaku in later years went to Hokkaido (besides acting as a ‘bodyguard') might have been that 200 fellow clan members had ‘relocated' to this frontier after the war.

The Aizu clan, heavily regimented with strict codes of honor, were struck down by petty politics as Emperor, Shogun, and warring parties fought to lead (or not lead) the emerging Japan out of the nearly 250 year Tokugawa blockade and contend with the western world. Even before the Boshin War, gunpowder weapons from rifles, cannons and even Gatling Guns began to supplant the way of the bow and arrow. Sword and spear met minie bullets and canister. Hot lead defeated cold steel.

But the samurai way can best be stated in the death poem by Saigo Tanomo's older sister, written just before she cut her own throat:

Each time I die and am reborn in this world
I wish to return as a stalwart warrior

Young Takeda Sokaku learned from his father and was at the very least influenced by Kurokochi Dengoro Kanenori, if not taught. From a general glance, we can see at least sumo, kenjutsu, sojutsu, and jujutsu as part of what Takeda learned.

We can also see that Takeda had that quality of stubborn-ness which bordered on compulsive-obsessive behavior to exceed.

Then, we toss in learning from Sakakibara Kenkichi.

My thoughts are that the very beginnings of internal skills and aiki were started with his sumo training. From there, Takeda Sokaku could have learned other structural body skills from kenjutsu and sojutsu. It's my understanding (not proficiency) that you can't handle a spear or naginata efficiently without solid body structure. And so, Takeda Sokaku could have taken his internal training (which probably included some form of body structure) from sumo and modified it to work with the added body structure he learned from sword and spear.

From there, he could have designed, altered, and changed the training methodology to create something new and most likely better at instilling aiki.

What if the sumo training gave him a very good start but that it was the weapons work where he had to put all of his knowledge of the internal methods of the body ... out to the tip of a sword or spear that really got him hooked. With the way he approached training, it isn't too much of a surprise that he could have created a new way of training which was better and contained elements he learned from multiple systems.

What if the aiki that was taught to Sagawa, Kodo, Ueshiba, etc. was the sole creation of Takeda Sokaku?

When will the next installment be posted? I am 'jonesing' something bad for some aiki stuff. Get me my fix.

Scott Harrington

Hello Scott,

I will be sending the column to Jun tomorrow (Japan time). So it will be one of the June columns. It will be the final part of my review of Ellis's book, after which TIE 19 will resume the earlier thread (which is in my mind, anyway).